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Thursday, May 24, 2012

"waking hours" by lis wiehl with pete nelson

About the book (from the back cover): All towns have secrets. Some have demons.

Welcome to East Salem. A deceptively sleepy town where ancient supernatural forces are being awakened.

A local high-school girl is found murdered in a park amid horse farms and wealthy homes of northern Westchester County, New York. The shocking manner of her death confounds the town and intrigues forensic psychiatrist Dani Harris, who is determined to unravel the mystery. All the suspects are teenagers who were at a party with the girl—yet none remembers what happened. Could one of them be a vicious killer? Or is something more sinister afoot—something tied to an ancient evil?

But it's not just her waking hours that challenge Dani. Each night, her eyes open at 2:13 due to troubling dreams. Dreams filled with blood, water, and destruction. Is it a clue—or a supernatural sign?

Across town, former NFL linebacker Tommy Gunderson finds his state-of-the-art security system has been breached by an elderly woman. Mumbling threats in Latin, she attacks him with an uncanny, preternatural strength. Before he has time to process the attack, someone close to him is implicated in the girl's murder at the park. He agrees to help-and finds himself working with Dani, the only girl who could resist his charms years ago when they were in high school.

A heavy darkness is spreading. Yet a heavenly force is also at work.

It will take astute analysis and forensic skills to solve the crime. But Dani and Tommy suspect there's more the the mystery than murder, more to their growing friendship than chance . . . and more to the evil they're facing than a mere human killer.

My take: Lis Wiehl has done it again! I'm a longtime fan of her Triple Threat series (written with April Henry), and Waking Hours is just as engaging as—though completely different from—those books. Taken as a mystery/detective novel, Waking Hours is good. But when you add in the supernatural element (which really doesn't come to the forefront until the end), you have a fantastic story that sets up what will hopefully become a long-running series.

Because Waking Hours is the set-up to the series, it's not as suspenseful as I expected. (It kind of acts like a TV show pilot—it gives you all the elements you need to embrace the series as it continues.) The action definitely ramps up at the end, and the book ends on a cliffhanger. I wish I could have kept reading—I can't wait to get my hands on book two! 4 out of 5 stars.

About the authors: Lis Wiehl is a New York Times best-selling author, Harvard Law School graduate, and former federal prosecutor. A popular legal analyst and commentator for the Fox News Channel, Wiehl appears on The O'Reilly Factor and was co-host will Bill O'Reilly on the radio for seven years.

Pete Nelson is the author of I Thought You Were Dead. He was listed in the Esquire Register of Best American Writers, the recipient of the 2003 Christopher Award, and nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award. He lives with his wife and son in Westchester, New York.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free for review from Amazon.com through its Vine reviewer program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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